literature

The Window Project-Chapter 1

Deviation Actions

sarcasticallysweet's avatar
Published:
180 Views

Literature Text

Chapter 1

My name is Robin Sientas. I am a thief
I don't exactly know when I started stealing. I don't know when I started getting good at it. All I really know is I am a thief and it gives me a rush. They say the first step to fixing a problem is to admit you have one. I am not one of those people I do not have a problem. I was merely a white smile in the dark. At least I didn't think I had a problem. Kneeling precariously on the ledge I fiddled with the window using a screwdriver until it gave way. A quick look around confirmed everything was still and I slipped inside.
Landing in a crouch on the plush carpet I surveyed the bedroom. The first thing I noticed was that it reeked of chlorine. The second thing was how messy it was. I never knew exactly what house I was going to break into next. That was a part of the excitement and I wasn't quiet sure if it was sheer luck or skill that kept me free. When I was positive no one but me breathed in the house I stood up and looked closer at my surroundings. The wall was filled with posters of famous movies dating recently all the way back to the black and white era. An unmade double bed was pushed up beside the single window. The hazardously thrown bed spread was a black and blue plaid.
The back of the room held a gaping black hole that spewed out clothes like it had a stomachache. The right wall was lost behind a monstrous black desk covered with pieces of paper, black gaming parts and an expensive laptop downloading some new program. I barely glanced at it. Shiny new things held no real value for me. I wasn't a bad thief if that makes any sense. I didn't steal things people would notice were missing. Things that told me about them even though I would never meet them.
I had exactly one hour before I had to leave empty handed. I started with the closet. It was so messy I wouldn't have to put anything back in order. The smell of chlorine was much more potent and I could instantly tell there was nothing important here. I had been doing this for three years and had picked up a few tricks. For example no one kept anything worth stealing near a pile of smelly damp clothes. Bending down I pulled out a black and white chuck tailors taped together at the heel. Running my fingers over the fading material I stared hard at it. Something as simple as a shoe could tell a lot about a person.
For example the difference between mud and dirt on a shoe can determine where they walk. Drawings and doodles on the fabric can show the beginnings have an artist or designer and if they have any potential. The tiniest things are laid out before someone's eyes and no one bothers to pay attention anymore. I bit my lip examining the well loved and aged shoe wondering if it was what I was looking for. Usually it wasn't this hard. Usually something came to me, something that popped out of its surroundings. There was none of that here.
Swiveling my head I looked around wondering if there was something I had missed. Changing tactics I moved to the desk carefully shifting through papers. Taking special care not to read the name on any of the papers. The desk seemed to be the core operation in the room and I was much more careful with moving things around. In the beginning I had been very careful with my little thefts. Wearing gloves and such. However I had come to realize that they rarely even noticed anything was missing at all.
Something changed and I froze. Someone was moving around downstairs. Thumping up the stairs a male voice calling from below. I literally had seconds before I was discovered. In a blind panic I dove into the cramped confines of the closet. Crouching down to ground level I hid among the littered clothing my black disguise blending in with the dimness. The crack from the door hinge proved to be the perfect vantage point. Curiosity won. I broke my first rule. In the end it was my new beginning.
The light flicked on and I squinted until my eyes adjusted. He had his back to me as he shuffled for something under the bed. Suddenly I felt like a creep. Hidden among this strangers things waiting for him to leave. This is why I never want to see the people I steal from. It made it just seem so wrong.
'' Where are you?'' he mumbled to himself fishing with his arm his back to me. He stopped shuffling and pulled a black backpack out from underneath and rolled onto his back to zip it open and grab an old fashioned camera.
When he threw the bag back down I got a good look at his face. I knew him. He went to my school. Still I couldn't put a name with the face. The feeling of shame only doubled. I watched as he stared down at the camera with an intense expression in his pale blue eyes. Bent over I could see the shadows his long eyelashes formed on his high cheeks. In the intense light overhead his untidy dyed hair glimmered a dark blue.
With a surprisingly sad sigh he stood up, the old camera in his hand and placed it on the bed instead taking a more advanced video camera perched on his bedside table.
''Stop eating all my food Shawn'' he jogged out of the room. As soon as the lights went off again I recalled his name.
''Fin Golder'' he was in my English class. He was never seen without his video camera. I heard he never actually entered any of his projects into the yearly competitions. Of course all this information was based on gossip. I had never actually had a real conversation with him. He wasn't a loner. He had friends.
Every part of me screamed to get out of that place but I stayed still until I heard a car pull out of the driveway outside. I launched myself out of the closet the smell of chlorine suddenly overpowering me. I had one leg out the window when I stopped and glanced over at the old camera lying on the bed. I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do at the moment but my hand reached out of it's own accord and snatched it up. It was the simple flash cameras that were frequently used before the digital camera was invented. The kind your parents would take on vacations. Snap a picture and roll the little scroll button until it couldn't go anymore. With a shiver I slipped out and clung to the edge of the windowsill tucking the camera into my pocket in order to use both hands.
Taking a deep breath I pushed off the ledge, launching myself into the air and towards a lower fire escape. I guess my scare had left me a little shaky because I missed my target and landed a little to the right. The metal underneath me made an awful rattling noise and I cringed. As luck would have it no light turned on from inside and I was safe. At least I thought I was. Yet I got this intense feeling that someone was watching me, judging me.
Jumping down to the streets below I broke into a run. I ran all the way home. To my old house nestled across from the park. For no reason the camera in my pocket seemed to weigh a ton. I felt the first flickers of guilt clawing at my heart. I mean of course it crossed my mind what I was doing. I knew what I was. I knew what I was doing was wrong. Yet I couldn't stop and most of the time the guilt would rest into he backs of my thoughts. Perfectly placed out of the way. That is were I wanted it to stay. I stopped a block away to catch my breath. Fishing my phone out of my back pocket I checked the time.
Ten-thirty
That was bad. I was half an hour late for curfew. If my mom were home I would get my head chopped off. If my older sister was home I could at least sleep until she told my mother tomorrow and then I would get my head chopped off. Either way was bad. I didn't understand usually I was so careful. Other then my obvious track record I didn't do anything wrong. Call it my cover up but I worked just as hard to keep it up as anyone else.
My house was a dull graying eggshell color squished between two complexes. Its front steps were aged and squeaky. I stopped at the front step knowing the first step I took would alert whoever was sitting in the living room. My older sisters window faced the street, the porch roof just underneath it. It would be a cakewalk to get inside. I found a third option that involved an intact head. I was taking it. Glancing around at the neighboring windows I swung up onto the rail and scrambled onto the roof. I kept the window open just a crack for rare occasions such as this. Crouching I lifted the window up wide and slipped inside with much less grace then the first window.
No sooner had I stood up than the light flicked on. It was my older sister Ruby sitting in an old rocking chair her arms crossed over her chest. My sister and I look nothing alike. Ask anyone my sister is tall and rail thin, all angle and bone with light brown hair cut short to frame her face and shrewd dark gray eyes. I'm somewhat shorter and more muscular or curvy whatever you'd like to call it. Long dark brown hair a shade away from black and large dark brown eyes.
''You're late''
She frowned in that irritating mother like way of hers. At age nineteen she was only two years older then I.
''Only by half an hour'' I protested hating that I had to defend myself.
''What were you doing?'' she asked in a voice much to light to be real.
''Nothing important, just went for a walk'' Ruby would have a heart attack if she ever knew what I was doing.
Which is why she never will I thought to myself casually brushing the camera tucked in my pocket.
''A walk really?'' Ruby meant well. She had been top of her class and was setting out to do great things. When she met Rick. He had always been nice to me and he had been good for my sister. He was killed right before graduation. Stabbed when he tried to stop some street members from robbing some lady. The lady never said Thank you. Ever since his death Ruby has lost all ambition to do anything in the world. In her eyes it all seems pointless to her now. She doesn't think that of more and now me then ever she pushes me to be perfect. If only she knew.
I frowned and shook my head ''what do you think I was doing?'' I counted to ten and raised my chin looking her square in the eye.
''Everything is fine Ruby I just lost track of time'' she grinned at me ''your usually so on time what kept you?''
''Nothing!'' she could be such a pain. She was about to continue grilling me when I cut her off.
''Ruby you are not Mom, I was only a half an hour late it was no big deal'' she smiled already used to this old and tiresome argument. I grew tired of it but could never come up with anything different.
''Now Robin you know in order to be a responsible sister I have to tell Mom'' my tired mind scrambled for something good to say.
''Unless'' she literally clasped her hands together ''you could tell me why you were late''
''I was at a friends house'' I screamed the first thing that came to mind. The second I said it I begged time to break the rules just once and rewind to before I said it.
''A friend'' she sniffed ''you don't have any friends''
For whatever reason she loved to point that little piece of information out to me. I didn't care, I didn't need friends. They were only a burden. Only you can feel what you feel why bother having to worry about what someone else was feeling. My sister was a living example of that and for some reason she still wanted me to go through the measures. Have friends, hang out, and go to parties and all the usual cliché crap. I loved my sister; sometimes I just didn't understand her.
''Yes I do'' I challenged only digging the hole deeper for myself.
''His name is Fin'' I guess the events of tonight were swimming somewhere a little to close to my current thoughts. I caught a flash of him looking down at the camera now in my pocket but I shook it away.
''So it's a boy'' she smirked ''I thought you said you preferred to be a loner'' her smug look annoyed me ''It's not like I've suddenly joined the pep squad or something''.
That seemed to get a good laugh out of her and I sighed.
''That's it I'm not telling you anything anymore''
''No, no I'm sorry''
''I'm going to bed now'' I called walking past her. If I really came off as friendless it was because I choose it.
''Robin stop I'm sorry'' she may have said it but she didn't get up to do anything about it so I just kept walking. At the end of the Hallway hung a string from the ceiling. There were only two rooms on this landing. Ruby and I used to share a room until she was supposed to go off to college. Then I was supposed to get the room to myself but when she decided to stay things started to get a little crowded. In the beginning Ruby had odd hours at work and would wake me as she was coming home. So I made a request to mom to turn the attic into my room and after some negotiating and chores on my part she said yes.
Flicking the light switch on the wall I pulled the rope and wooden stairs appeared. The light was on and I scrambled up the steps to my sanctuary. My room had slanted ceilings and hard wood floors. The single window was high enough to show a front seat view of the sky rather than the next-door neighbors bathroom.
I set my bed up on a platform right underneath the window with drawers imbedded underneath it. My desk stood on the opposite side of the room with an old fashioned wardrobe in the middle. Two slim bookcases boxed it in on both sides. The final wall had shelves of plants. I loved my plants. Mom said I was the only one in the family who inherited the legendary green thumb of my grandmother. Ruby tried to keep a plant alive time and time again only to watch it die underneath her well moisturized hands. Half hidden underneath one of my wall length vines sat Yoru my lucky black cat. Her large yellow eyes blinked up at me in a friendly welcome. How Yoru got in and out of this room always was a mystery to me but she kept her secrets.
I pulled off my black hoodie and climbed up the metal ladder to my bed. The red bedspread looked so inviting but I had to put it away first. Dropping to the platform floor I felt along the seam between the bedframe and the mattress leaving just enough space to hide a medium sized wooden box. Pulling it out I cautiously opened the lid and peeked inside. Here was the proof of my sin, all the things I'd stolen over the years. From a tattered red and blue hacky sack to a tiny black case filled with sketch pencils. A pair of headphones. A cd of someone's favorite songs. It might be meaningless junk to most people, but not to me.
I took the camera and carefully placed it inside shutting the lid and putting the box back in it's hiding place. I was exhausted and my ankles still ached from the jump to the fire escape. Pulling back the blankets I sunk into the downy comfort and fell asleep. I would need to for the day ahead. Yoru's gold eyes cut through the dark. It wasn't a big deal. No one would notice these things were missing. That's what I whispered to myself anyway. Laying there in the dark. Repeating it to myself over and over again.
I finished this story a while ago and was overall very proud of it although as it is the main male character is my biggest competition now. Anyway in order to celebrate I decided to post the first chapter online. I'm not sure if I am going to continue posting the chapters or not, depends on the feedback..Anyway i hope you enjoy
© 2011 - 2024 sarcasticallysweet
Comments3
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Kairi-Alyss's avatar
*thumbs up* MOOOOORREEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!